Re: rectal exam

Posted By Doug Bank on October 29, 1998 at 09:36:40:

In Reply to: rectal exam posted by John on October 29, 1998 at 08:56:23:






when one has a rectal exam, can the doctor feel all around the prostate for abnormalities? Is his exam limited only to part of the prostate?  Thank you.
The doctor can only feel one side of the prostate with a rectal exam. He can tell a lot about it's concistency, and it's size, but he can't feel the whole thing. Also, some doctor's are a lot better at doing this exam than others.
A prostate ultrasound is really needed to see the WHOLE prostate, and they will typically only do that if there are other reason's indicating that something might be wrong.
Doug Bank